Some other odd jobs

Published 2:00 am, Thursday, May 3, 2012

There were lots of things we did to earn some spending money. One was to pick and sell dew berries to, what we called, city folks. But in reality they were not necessarily city folks.

Maybe some were only country folks that just didn’t want to go to the trouble of fighting the stickers, poison oak, getting their hands red with berry juice, having to watch for snakes or putting up with mosquitoes or other insects that accompanied this job.

As much trouble as it was to pick the berries, after mama cooked the berry cobbler it was worth the time, ever inconvenience and all of the obstacles that it took to obtain the berries, plus we were able to sell what we did not use for extra money!

I also worked for older folks to either plant or to help take care of the flower beds they had planted, or to work in their vegetable gardens. Our neighbors that grew watermelons and other things also hired us to help take care of their crops. We would remove weeds and loosen the soil around the plants, but careful not to disturb the roots.

One time my brother, Floyd, (we called him Chief) got the bright idea to make a shoe shine box and go to the closest town, Wells, and shine shoes for folks that wanted or needed our services. It took a while to get set up in our business, but we made some regular customers and with new ones occasionally we made enough to keep us in spending money.

We would trim trees, pick pine cones, and mow yards as well as other things to make some extra money to go to a movie, buy candy or other things that we needed or wanted. I was hired on one job to trim all of the limbs off of a man’s pine tree farm as far up as I could reach, which he hoped would help the trees grow faster.

I remember helping Papa clear scrub brush and small trees that had overgrown a pasture so that the farmers could plow and raise crops the next year. None of these jobs paid very much, but for us, it did allow us to by drinks, candy, clothes, and go to a movie occasionally.

Harvey and Ashley Schultz

Shultz was born and raised in Texas and is currently living near Baytown. He is the author of several books; two are in print and others to be published in the near future. He has been married to Pat Schultz for 49 years and has two children, Paul, 47, and Ashley, 24. Contact hschultz2@yahoo.com